Facing almost certain defeat, Real Madrid can prove again why they are the scourge of English clubs | OneFootball

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It is Real Madrid against the Premier League. It often is. When Arsenal line up in the Bernabeu, it will be Real’s 22nd game against English opposition since the start of April 2021. If, for Arsenal, it would be a landmark result to eliminate Real, it has been a milestone of sorts simply to face them. For Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool, Real have provided a regular date on the fixture list; perhaps no more for Chelsea, however. They could complete a clean sweep of European trophies this season but Real may never enter the Conference League.

Look at the list of recent Champions League winners and it has been Real or the Premier League. Chelsea in 2021 and City in 2023, Real in 2022 and 2024. An era of sorts may end this year, unless Arsenal maintain the Premier League’s biannual habit of conquering Europe or Real first stage a great comeback and then embark on the familiar pursuit of glory. Three of the four semi-finalists will be neither Real nor English.

At times in recent years, it has seemed as though continental Europe looked to Real to resist the English invasion – or perhaps, as no club from mainland Europe has knocked Real out since 2019, and none from Spain, Germany, Italy or France since 2015, the best from LaLiga, the Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 look to the Premier League’s finest to dispose of Real.

In both 2021 and 2022, two of the semi-finalists came from the Premier League and one from Madrid. In 2022, it was Real alone who stopped the English: knocking out European champions Chelsea in the quarter-finals, English champions City in the semi-finals and then Liverpool in the final. Only one other club eliminated a representative from England, and even they came from Madrid: Atletico knocked out Manchester United in the last 16.

In 2023, Real reprised their role as the club charged with taking on the English, their flights from Madrid-Barajas airport pointed north across the Bay of Biscay and then the English Channel. To Liverpool in the last 16, Chelsea in the quarter-finals, City in the semi-finals.

And that ended in an uncharacteristic humiliation, a 4-0 shellacking at the Etihad Stadium. The year before, City could testify to Real’s capacity to mount comebacks. So can Chelsea. The formula City found in the 2023 semi-final may have been borrowed by Arsenal last week: to realise and rationalise that it is not enough merely to beat Real. To prevent another improbable fightback, it is necessary to put them out of sight. For Declan Rice, an irregular scorer striking twice in the game of his life in 2025, read Bernardo Silva, an irregular scorer striking twice in the game of his life in 2023.

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Real Madrid's three goals in stoppage time against Man City in 2022 burnished their reputation as the kings of European comebacks... (Getty)

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...however, they were heavily beaten by the same opponents in 2023, the last time an English club knocked them out of the Champions League (Getty)

Look at Real’s record over those 21 games: won 10, drew five and lost six. It is admirable, especially given the calibre of the opposition, but not seemingly extraordinary. Examine it in another way and it is exceptional. They have eliminated Premier League teams in eight ties, while only being knocked out twice themselves. They have prevailed on penalties, won ties while losing one leg, conjured late goals. Their very Real Madrid-ness has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Those 21 games have contained three chastening defeats. One may have been revealing but was not fatal: November’s 2-0 group-stage loss at Anfield, when they were condemned to defeat in part by Liverpool’s inspired understudies, Caoimhin Kelleher and Conor Bradley. It may be a stretch to say they offered inspiration to Arsenal’s back-up centre-back, Jakub Kiwior, and makeshift striker, Mikel Merino, last week but it could have offered an indication Real are beatable.

The eventual verdict on the 3-0 at the Emirates has to be withheld until it is confirmed if Arsenal did finish off Real; two years ago, City’s 4-0 victory came in the second leg. It felt entirely in character that Real rebounded to win their favourite trophy the following year, disposing of City en route – a penalty shootout success in a tie in which they had twice trailed at the Bernabeu a familiar triumph of brinkmanship.

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Madrid trail Arsenal 3-0 on aggregate after the first leg but have a history of securing comeback wins (Action Images/Reuters)

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Declan Rice’s two goals in the first leg may be the moments of magic Premier League clubs tend to need to get past Real Madrid (EPA)

But the 4-0 and the 3-0 indicate that Real can be overpowered and outpaced in matches when they lack intensity; when they are not able to hang in games, rely on a combination of temperament, experience and big players to prevail. These are days when the holes in the squad are exposed, when Real’s star-studded recruitment can look inferior to perfectly configured teamwork.

But it was not the end of an era for Real in 2023. It might not be in 2025, either. On both occasions, Real’s response could involve buying British, even if a deal for Jude Bellingham was teed up long before the loss at the Etihad and it did not need defeat to Arsenal for Trent Alexander-Arnold to appear on their radar. If it shows a direction of travel for English players and the siren call of the Bernabeu, that is helped by a reputation as perennial kings of Europe. It is aided by a status as the scourge of English clubs. They often are and probably will continue to be but, on Wednesday, for the third time in five years, Real could exit Europe to a Premier League challenger.